What You Really Need For a Triathlon

For years I had the "triathlon goal," but as each summer came around for a good five-year stretch, I found myself pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or having just given birth. Three years ago, it was finally my time to commit to a triathlon. Or as my sister explained, I was finally out of excuses. My sister had done her first triathlon a year earlier, so I looked to her for all my critical triathlon needs, like what to wear and what to do with my hair. I had no idea the journey I was about to begin.

My sibling eagerly explained that I could use my mountain bike for the bike portion and that only "dorks" who think they're true athletes wear a tri-suit (generally, a one or two-piece shorts/tank combo that you can wear through the swim, bike and run). She said I should wear a regular work-out type swimsuit for the swim and then throw on shorts and a tank for the bike and run, and oh yeah, bring deodorant. She also advised against a wetsuit for the above mentioned dorks-who-think-they're-athlet es reason. I took her advice and set out on my training.

I began with a five-mile bike ride on my mountain bike that felt more like twenty. As I stumbled through my front-door, soaked in sweat and barely able to speak, my husband chimes in, "well did you really think that that big old mountain bike would zip along the roads?" Luckily, I was too weak to pursue a fight. I was in a panic anyway; I had no clue how I was going to ride that bike for 15 miles in a race.

My next challenge was open-water swimming. I'd spent all my younger years on swim-team and continued to swim laps and the local pool into my adult years. No fear here! I went to the local gravel pond with a friend who grew-up swimming in the ocean. She shows up with an extra wetsuit for me. I scoffed at the thought. No way was I going to look like a dork. I proceeded to enter the gravel pond and have a panic attack because I was convinced I could no longer swim. After catching my breath and being assured that no one thought I was a dork for trying to drown in 2 feet of water, I put the wetsuit on.

My first thought as I re-entered the water was that I was quite a bit warmer and floated almost magically. I took my first few strokes and panicked again, I had no idea where I was going. My friend pointed out a sandbar in the middle of the lake and said "swim there." She waited with me, through every one of my labored, terrified strokes. But

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